Environment & Safety
US safety board says lapses led to BP oil spill
The CSB said a "robust system of process safety indicators" may have revealed problems that led to the disaster, such as discordant safety controls between BP and Transocean.
Foster Wheeler wins top UK achievement award on health, safety performance
The Order of Distinction is RoSPA’s highest achievement award and is presented to those companies which have attained at least 15 consecutive RoSPA Gold Awards for outstanding health and safety performance on projects around the world. It is the fifth successive year that Foster Wheeler has won.
Offshore drillers focus on wrong safety data, says US chem safety board
Offshore oil and gas drillers put too much emphasis on items such as individual worker injuries while neglecting better indicators of danger, such as the number of near-misses a drilling rig experiences or whether safety equipment are maintained on schedule, according to the CSB's preliminary findings.
Valero shuts Meraux refinery in Louisiana after fire
The exchanger caught fire at about 1:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, according to a report filed with the US National Response Center. All units will remain down while repairs are made to the crude unit and related utilities. Valero did not give a timetable for repairs or a possible restart.
Enbridge to spend up to $500mn more on Canada pipeline safety features
The company's plan to build an oil pipeline from Alberta to a port in Kitimat, British Columbia, for export overseas faces opposition within the province, including from native groups and environmental organizations. Northern Gateway would ship up to 525,000 bpd and is scheduled for a 2017 startup.
Alberta to review pipeline safety after recent spills
Mr. Hughes requested that Alberta's energy regulator, the Energy Resources Conservation Board, work with an independent third party to review pipeline safety and accident response, according to a government statement. Alberta is the largest oil-and-gas-producing province in Canada.
US appeals court upholds EPA sulfur dioxide rules
The rule had been challenged by the National Environmental Development Association's Clean Air Project, a trade group representing ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, General Electric and several other major companies. Meanwhile, environmental groups had joined the EPA in defending the rule.
US court upholds air quality rule against oil lawsuit
Tuesday's ruling from the US Court of Appeals marks a win for the Obama administration and environmental groups that supported the two-year-old standards for nitrogen dioxide, or NO2. The API claimed the rule was illegal because it went beyond what was needed to protect public health.
Solvay commissions new methane recovery facility at US trona mine
The methane recovery system (MaRS) captures methane liberated during the mining process that would otherwise be vented directly into the atmosphere and instead directs it to either be incinerated, or piped to the trona processing facility to recover the thermal energy via combustion.
Western Refining settles N.M. emissions violations
The settlement stems from excess sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants emitted by Western's refinery in Gallup, New Mexico, between July 2009 and March 2012. Western also agreed to upgrade equipment at the 20,800 bpd refinery to lower emission levels.
- CNOOC completes construction on $2.9-B, 1.8-MMtpy integrated complex in east China 8/22
- bp's Whiting refinery (U.S.) continues to flare days after severe thunderstorm 8/22
- Bachmann introduces latest version M-Target for Simulink 8/22
- U.S. to rule on biofuel waivers, but big oil refiners may need to wait 8/22
- Chinese independent refiner Hongrun buys Canadian, Brazilian crude 8/22
- Ukrainian attack suspends Russian oil flows to Hungary, Slovakia 8/22
